Lehi City Council Work Session Summary – June 8, 2026
Lehi City Council Work Session – June 8, 2026
The Lehi City Council held a work session on June 8, 2026, starting at 10:15 AM. The meeting opened with a prayer from Council Member Newell and the introduction of new Code Compliance Specialist Caden Peterson. Key discussions included an update on water conservation efforts, a review of the library book return service, a proposed contract renewal for NICE Healthcare, a comprehensive presentation on parks funding and priorities, and a preliminary discussion of the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget. No public comment was taken as this was a work session.
Water Update
- Matt reported improved water conditions: stored water allocation from Provo River Water Users Association increased from 50% to 69%. Surface water flows from Dry Creek have persisted longer than expected. Timely rainstorms have been a blessing, with citizens conserving water—319 acre-feet saved in the last two weeks alone due to storms on May 29–30. From April 1 to date, the water department delivered 517 acre-feet less than the same period last year (168 million gallons). The city will remain in Phase Two watering restrictions (two days per week).
Library Book Return Update
- Chrissy Seely reported that a curbside book return service launched about six weeks ago has had only about a dozen uses, primarily by senior citizens. Council members suggested installing signs with a phone number and promoting the service through the utility bill newsletter. Staff expressed concerns about potential workload increases if demand grows. The council directed staff to proceed with signage and limited promotion while monitoring usage.
NICE Healthcare Service Renewal Agreement
- Randy presented a proposal for a two-year contract renewal with NICE Healthcare at $45 per employee per month (already budgeted). First-quarter statistics: 126 visits, 97% employee satisfaction, and a premium savings of 1.2% (approximately $83,000). The contract is on the consent agenda for the next meeting. Council clarified that NICE offers services beyond typical telehealth (e.g., x-rays, mental health therapy) and that utilization has increased 4% over the prior year.
Parks Funding and Priorities Discussion
- Steve Marchbanks presented a detailed overview of current and upcoming park assets. The city currently has 52 developed parks (413 acres) plus significant open space. Upcoming projects include 250 acres of new park space and over 600 acres of open space, which will require substantial additional staffing. The department currently maintains 35 acres per FTE (best practice is 20). Staffing needs: at least 6 additional full-time employees over the next five years, plus seasonal workers. Priority projects: Miller Roads (cost estimated at $47 million for all-turf sports complex), and upgrades to Willow Park (leased from the county). Council discussed potential for turf conversion of infields, outsourcing maintenance, and partnering with HOAs on underutilized spaces. The total estimated cost to develop all planned parks is around $100 million. Staff highlighted that impact fees are often insufficient and that ongoing maintenance costs are a major concern.
Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget Discussion
- Council reviewed the tentative budget and fund balance reappropriation. Dean explained that higher fund balance usage reflects one-time expenditures. Council members suggested improving the budget process by starting high-level discussions (tax increase, priorities) earlier—perhaps in November/December—and having departments present overviews earlier in the year. Consensus emerged to hold early work sessions and a retreat in January to set priorities before the tentative budget is released in May. Discussion also covered the campus master plan, station 81, and the legacy center. Council agreed to gather data this fiscal year on renovating station 81 and the legacy center before deciding next steps. No immediate funding for updating the campus master plan was approved.
Key Outcomes
- The water conservation approach (Phase Two, two-day watering) will continue; no enforcement actions have been taken yet.
- Staff will install library book-return signage and promote the service via social media and utility bill newsletters.
- The NICE Healthcare contract renewal will be voted on as part of the consent agenda at the next meeting.
- Parks staff will pursue turf infield conversion at Miller Roads and explore options for Willow Park with the county. Staffing needs will be addressed in future budget cycles.
- The budget process will be revised to include earlier council priority discussions and departmental overviews, with a retreat planned for January 2027.
- No formal action was taken on the campus master plan or station 81/legacy center studies; data gathering will continue.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 12:00 PM, with the next regular meeting scheduled for June 9, 2026, at 4:30 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Harrison, Council Member Freeman, Council Member Lockhart on the dais. I do believe Councilmember Stallings is joining us electronically. Is that true? Yes. Great. We'll start go ahead and get started with a couple reminders. Reminder number one: this is a work session, so there won't be any open uh public comment today. And with that, we will open with an opening prayer from Council Member Newell. Our dear Heavenly Father, we're grateful that we're able to gather here today as a city council and city staff and be able to discuss the the needs of our incredible city. We ask the Henley Father to bless our staff and our departments and just be able to hope that they feel the the gratitude that our city has for each of them and the responsibilities that they carry to provide us with such an incredible place to live. Thank you, Councilmember Newell. Uh one other thing is thank you for those who are in attendance. We appreciate that you're here. Oh quickly, yes. Sorry. Sorry to still be under me. Um we just thought at the beginning of the working session, just really quick. I wanted to introduce you to our new code compliance specialist, Caden Peterson. So anyways, just wanted to put a face with his name, and he'd be the person to reach out to now. So we're excited to have him. Welcome aboard, Kate. Good to have you. Okay, Matt, we're now ready for the good news. The good news. Well, fortunately, I do have a little better news than the last time we met. I don't have a presentation, but I did want to give some updates. Um I don't know, it's been what six weeks ago, probably. Um I have some updates on the stored water that was discussed during that presentation. Um I mentioned during that presentation that our stored water from Provo River Water Users Association, they had initially um put out a 50% allocation on that water. Since then it's went to 69%. So that's uh good piece of news. We'll get a little bit more water out of our stored water. Um Mayor Benz and I talked about this a couple of weeks ago is our surface water and how it was going to perform. When I talked to Mayor Benz at breakfast a couple of weeks ago, told him it was performing worse than I thought it was going to. But the truth of the matter is it's performing pretty erratic. When it gets really hot, we have been able to get some flows the last couple of weeks and still getting some flows from Dry Creek right now. And actually I thought it would be gone by now, and it's still kind of hanging in there, which is a piece of good news too. It's not a lot, but it's uh more than I would expect it would be this time of year with what snow was up there. So that's some good news. Uh most importantly, we've had some timely rainstorms, which have been a huge blessing, as you guys all know. Those rainstorms uh have been a great blessing to us, and the best part about it is the citizen response. Um Lehigh City has really conservation effort, our citizens and what other water users have really shut off their clocks during them storms just the last couple of weeks. Um 319 acre feet in the last two weeks of saved water because of them uh storms over the 29th and 30th. Um April 1st to date, um the water department has delivered um 517 acre feet less than we did last year in that same time frame, and that's uh 168 million gallons. So pretty impressive conservation effort so far. Um hopeful that Mother Nature continues to bail us out throughout the rest of the year, but in better shape than I thought we would be when we met the last time we met. Questions? My only question is we continue to stay on the state two watering a week, correct? Yes, we will stay on that. Yep.
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